Recently, 1-methyl-2,4,5-trinitroimidazole has drawn attention as the most promising insensitive meltcastable molecular explosive. In a conventional process, 1-methyl-2,4,5-trinitroimidazole is produced starting from 4-nitroimidazole, via preparation steps of 1,4-dinitroimidazole in a fine powder form and then 2,4-dinitroimidazole in a fine powder form.
In the above preparation method, every intermediate product obtained at the completion of each step should be provided in a fine powder form, by removing water using a desiccant and then evaporating the solvent thoroughly for drying. Therefore, such conventional method has disadvantages such as serious allergy problems often occurring in workers and process complexity.